Brookfield Asset Management Inc, the Canadian asset managing firm, has reportedly raised $4.4 billion for its global real estate fund. The amount is one of the largest since the financial crisis and has surpassed the $3.5 billion target, the company actually affixed, according to several media reports.
The commercial fund will invest in estates and buildings across Western Europe, U.S., Canada and Brazil. The Wall Street Journal reports that the fund has already devoted $1.1 billion to purchase a logistics firm based in the U.K. that operates throughout Western Europe and an Australian Real estate development firm, The Thakral Holdings.
The new real estate fund is a part of the capital pledges planned by the company. The $14 billion capital pledge comprises of a $6.2 billion infrastructure fund, a $2.1 billion investment management fund and some other commercial real estate and timber business funds, reports Bloomberg.
The fact that Brookfield managed to amass more than what it had targeted for its property fund, proves investors' growing confidence in private real estate equity funds. More recently, in a survey conducted by alternative asset research firm, Preqin, it was revealed that investments in private real estate funds were growing and investors' confidence in the sector was returning.
According to the results of the survey, more than 53 percent of the investors are looking forward to making new pledges towards private real estate funds. Around 54 percent of these investors will be adding more capital to the funds while 3 percent of their cohorts have claimed otherwise.
Meanwhile, Brookfield's timber business has been in the news for quite some time. In June 2013, Brookfield announced that it was selling away its forestry unit, Longview Timber LLC, to Weyerhaeuser Co., a U.S based real estate investment trust, and also one of its packaging unit to Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corp, in a separate deal.
The deal has finally been completed and both the transactions amounted to around $3.675 billion. The closing of the deals increased the company's liquidity by around $850 billion, according to the official press statement.
